Podcast episode 87 (in German)
Peptides in cancer therapy – homing missiles, vaccines and a helper for the immune system
September 25, 2026
Peptides are making history in cancer medicine right now: as hormone blockers, as homing missiles with a radioactive payload, as vaccines in trials — and with thymosin alpha-1 as a possible helper meant to rebuild the immune system after chemotherapy and radiation.
What it is about
The episode begins in Bad Berka in Thuringia, where cancer patients from all over the world traveled for years to receive radioligand therapy long before it was approved. From there it goes through the roles that peptides play in oncology: GnRH analogs such as leuprorelin deprive hormone-dependent tumors of their growth signal, and somatostatin analogs such as lanreotide slow down neuroendocrine tumors — told through the example of the British patient Ronny Allan, who has received an injection every 28 days since 2010. Radioligand therapy attaches a tiny amount of lutetium to a peptide and delivers the radiation directly to the tumor cell; Lutathera and Pluvicto, which was developed in Heidelberg, are approved. Added to this are peptide vaccines in trials and thymosin alpha-1, which is not meant to cure cancer but to support the body’s defenses after chemotherapy and radiation.
Key points
- GnRH analogs such as leuprorelin and somatostatin analogs such as octreotide and lanreotide are peptides and have been guideline-based standard therapy for certain tumors for decades.
- Ronny Allan has been living with a metastatic neuroendocrine tumor since 2010 and has received more than 200 lanreotide injections; he reports itching and nodules at the injection site, but also markedly fewer flushing attacks.
- In the pivotal NETTER-1 trial with 229 patients, Lutathera reduced the risk of progression or death by 79 percent; in NETTER-2, as first-line treatment, the disease remained stable for almost 23 instead of 8.5 months.
- The active substance in Pluvicto was developed at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg; in 2013 the world’s first patient was treated with lutetium-PSMA in Bad Berka, and in the VISION trial the men lived a median of 15.3 instead of 11.3 months.
- A case series describes three men over 90 whose PSA level fell by 84 to 98 percent under Pluvicto, with mild side effects.
- A peptide vaccine added to immunotherapy extended the time without progression in melanoma to 19.4 instead of 11 months, but narrowly missed the statistical target.
- Under thymosin alpha-1, a severe drop in immune cells during chemoradiotherapy for lung cancer occurred in 19 instead of 62 percent; in an Italian melanoma study with 488 patients there was more tumor response without additional side effects.
Where the data stop
The case reports are individual cases and not studies; they show what is possible, not what can be expected. The data on thymosin alpha-1 come mostly from China and often from retrospective analyses; in the lung cancer study the comparison group was assembled after the fact, and the survival benefit in the melanoma study narrowly missed statistical significance. In Germany, thymosin alpha-1 is not approved; in more than thirty other countries it is. Peptide vaccines are still mostly investigational medicine.
Anyone interested in one of these therapies should discuss it with their treatment team — precisely because they interact with chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy. This page does not replace such a conversation and does not make a diagnosis. The Cancer Information Service of the German Cancer Research Center answers questions independently and free of charge by phone or email.
Listen (in German)
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Published on September 25, 2026.
The topic in the database
- The best-studied immune peptide on this list: approved as Zadaxin in more than 30 countries, it supports T-cell defense – most convincingly as …Thymosin Alpha-1 (TA1)
Information only, not medical advice and not a usage or dosage recommendation. Prescription-only and unapproved substances belong in the hands of a physician. Last updated: 2026-09-26.